Polls open today until 7:30 for primary election

Sunday

May 6, 2018 at 11:25 AMMay 8, 2018 at 1:04 AM

Staff Reports

For today's primary election, Elections Director Beverly Cunningham said she expects probably 7,000 voters to cast ballots. That's in addition to the about 5,000 expected to have participated in early voting.

Only two races are on the Democratic primary ballot, and just four on the Republican primary ballot.

Several races on the ballot have drawn community interest, however. Henderson County's next sheriff and district attorney should be decided in the primary, as the Republican opponents have no Democratic challengers in November. A county commissioner's seat should also be decided.

Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. today for the primary election. For information about polling locations or for sample ballots, visit www.hendersoncountync.gov/elections or call 828-697-4970.

Visit www.blueridgenow.com/topics/elections for candidate profiles and news articles related to the primary election.

Republican primary

For Henderson County sheriff, incumbent Charles McDonald is running against Polk County sheriff’s Capt. Lowell Griffin.

In the District 4 commissioner race, incumbent Tommy Thompson is not running for re-election, leaving the primary to decide whether Rebecca McCall or Don Ward will take his place.

The race for District Attorney in District 42, formerly 29-B, will be decided in the primary as well, between incumbent Greg Newman and challenger Mary Ann J. Hollocker.

U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows also faces a primary opponent in Chuck Archerd.

Democratic primary

Democrats will decide a three-way contest for the party’s congressional nominee, and two Democratic hopefuls are squaring off for the chance to challenge Republican Mike Edney for the county board of commissioners District 1 seat.

Voters will choose either Patricia “Pat” Sheley or Michelle Antalec to face off against Edney in the November General Election.

In the race for U.S. House, Phillip Price, Steve Woodsmall and Scott Donaldson are vying for the Democratic nomination.

Early voting

Henderson County voters turned out for early voting by the thousands, making the local Board of Elections the No. 2 site in the state.

Cunningham said that as of Friday morning, about 4,500 people had voted early, and she expected about another 500 by the end of the day. Early voting ended Saturday.

For this primary, Fletcher Town Hall was also open for early voting, but it was the Board of Elections Office on East Central Street in Hendersonville that had drawn 3,770 voters by the end of the day Thursday, according to carolinatransparency.com.

The website reports that with six voting sites in Robeson County, 4,703 people had voted at its board of elections office.

The Henderson County board’s office is second only to Robeson in numbers, and Robeson is also host to a contentious sheriff’s primary, Cunningham said.

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